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UK Patent for Bank of NY Messaging
Bank of New York Co. has received a British patent for a system its BNY SmartSource uses to help investment managers communicate with the banks that settle securities transactions for institutional clients.
A U.S. patent application is pending, the bank said Monday.
The system provides a standardized way to communicate on behalf of clients that use different banks as custodians, said Stella Vanguestaine, the managing director for marketing and client relations at BNY SmartSource.
An investment manager may need to communicate with 30 to 100 custodians on behalf of different customers, Ms. Vanguestaine said. It can be "very difficult for the investment manager to know who wants Swift messaging, who wants you to go in through their Web portal, or who can only take a fax," she said.
Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, provides more than 360 standard types of transaction messages, including payment instructions and information about settlements. BNY SmartSource uses a standing-instruction database to automate broker clearing and custodian settlement, she said.
The system provides a single communications system for investment managers working with foundations, endowments, and other institutional investors, each of which may select its own custodian, she said.
The system now connects to 125 custodians worldwide, Ms. Vanguestaine said. She would not say how many investment managers use it.
RCM (UK) Ltd., a London unit of Allianz AG, is the first company to use the technology in Britain, Bank of New York said. RCM went live with it in the United States in September 2004 and in England last October.
Ms. Vanguestaine said Bank of New York does not plan to license its technology to other processors. "We view it as a competitive advantage."
The bank started BNY SmartSource in 1999 to offer outsourcing to investment companies. 
Enterprise in Mo. Using Imprivata System
Enterprise Financial Services Corp. of St. Louis is using a password-management system from Imprivata Inc. of Lexington, Mass.
The OneSign system gives employees who log in to the corporate network access to all the applications they are authorized to use. OneSign also connects to Enterprise's biometric identification system.
Enterprise, which has $1.2 billion of assets, offers commercial banking and wealth management services to privately held businesses and their owners' families in St. Louis and Kansas City.
Because of security and audit requirements, an employee must ordinarily use a different password for each of several applications. The new system makes it unnecessary to key them in.
Imprivata said employees often find it hard to remember all their passwords, so some write them down next to their computers. Also, employees who forget a password must call the company's help desk for a new one.
"We've found a way to comply with audit regulations while significantly reducing help-desk costs and improving employee productivity," said Steve Siress, Enterprise's network systems manager, in an Imprivata press release Monday.
